Rancho Rio de los Putos
{{Short description|Mexican land grant in California}}
{{Distinguish|Rancho Rio de los Americanos|Rio Rancho, New Mexico}}
Rancho Rio de los Putos, (Wolfskill Grant) was a {{convert|17755|acre|km2|sing=on}} Mexican land grant in the western Sacramento Valley, within present-day Solano County and Yolo County, California.
It was given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to William Wolfskill.Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
The grant extended along both banks of Putah Creek (formerly Rio Los Putos) and encompassed present day Winters.[http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb6t1nb3h3/?&brand=oac Diseño del Rancho Rio de los Putos][http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb2b69n721/?&query=yolo%20county&brand=oac The Wolfskill Rancho, Rio de los Putos] by Henry Hancock On current maps, the four leagues include {{convert|10750|acre|km2|1}} on the south side of Putah Creek in Solano County, and {{convert|7005|acre|km2|1}} on the north side of Putah Creek in Yolo County.
History
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|image1 = Portrait of the Los Angeles pioneer, William Wolfskill, shown in a half-tone print, ca.1831 (CHS-1765).jpg
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|caption2 = John Wolfskill
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John Reid Wolfskill (1804–1897) was born in Kentucky, and in 1828 followed his eldest brother, William Wolfskill to New Mexico. John spent ten years in New Mexico, then joined his brother William in Southern California in 1838. John wasn't a Mexican citizen and could not receive a land grant. In 1842, Governor Alvarado granted the four square league Rancho Rio de los Putos to William Wolfskill, a Mexican citizen. Brother John set out a short time later with cattle, oxen, a few horses and a satchel of cuttings and seeds to settle on his dream land, and arrived at Putah Creek in mid-July 1842—the first American settler in Solano County.{{cite book |last1=Hoover |first1=Mildred B. |first2=Hero|last2=Rensch |first3=Ethel |last3=Rensch|first4=William N. |last4=Abeloe |title=Historic Spots in California |url=https://archive.org/details/historicspotsinc00rens |url-access=registration |year=1966 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-4482-9}}
In 1849, William Wolfskill transferred half of Rancho Rio de los Putos to John, and transferred the rest to John in 1854. With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Rio de los Putos was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852,[http://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/256566 United States. District Court (California : Northern District) Land Case 232 ND][http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb109nb422/ Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892] and the grant was patented to William Wolfskill in 1858.[http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf Report of the Surveyor General 1844–1886] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320000647/http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf |date=2013-03-20}}
There was a boundary dispute as the grant overlapped the Rancho Los Putos grant of Peña and Vaca. A survey adjusting the boundaries was made in 1858.David Vaught, 2004, "A Tale of Three Land Grants on the Northern California Borderlands," Agricultural History, Vol. 78, No. 2 (Spring, 2004), pp. 140–154[http://openjurist.org/59/us/556/the-united-states-v-juan-manuel-vaca-and-juan-felipe-Peña 59 US 556 The United States v. Juan Manuel Vaca and Juan Felipe Peña]
See also
- {{C|Ranchos of Solano County, California}}
- {{C|Ranchos of Yolo County, California}}
- Ranchos of California
- List of Ranchos of California
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{coord |38.520|-121.950|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{California history}}
{{Solano County, California}}
{{Yolo County, California}}